Garden City Animal Shelter will get makeover soon

Most people probably don’t know that Garden City has an animal shelter. It’s a little off the beaten path, and it doesn’t operate like other shelters in the Treasure Valley.

This shelter functions as a holding place for stray dogs. They’re held there for up to five days in the hopes that they can quickly be reunited with their owners, and after that are transported to the Idaho Humane Society.

The city requires dog owners to get their pets licensed — $7.50, if spayed/neutered; $12.50, if not spayed/neutered — primarily because it helps them locate owners when strays are found.

The Garden City Animal Shelter is a one-story, 1,200-square-foot cinderblock building with a metal on 46th Street, between Chinden Boulevard and Adams Street. It’s right next to the new $2 million reservoir and booster pump station.

City officials can’t remember exactly when they built the building — half of which is used to shelter stray dogs, and the other half for general storage. But the building is rundown and in need of repair.

“It’s been on our list as one of our deteriorating public facilities,” said Garden City Councilwoman Pam Beaumont.

City officials have decided to tap about $45,000 in urban renewal agency money to renovate the shelter. They plan to gut the interior, upgrade it and reconfigured it, Beaumont said. The work will start in mid-March and take about six weeks to complete.

The shelter general never has more than two or three dogs at a time, so the plan is to reduce the number of kennels from eight to four — and add dog runs that extend a short distance out the back of the building.

A city code enforcement officer takes care of the dogs that come through the facility. Why doesn’t the city contract with the Idaho Humane Society for Animal Control?

“We can get to it faster — if there’s a stray dog on Adams (Street), we can get to it faster,” Beaumont said.

If your dog gets loose in Garden City, or you find a stray, call 472-2950 (Garden City Police).